BlockMendota Township
The complete chapter on this township from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877. 376 words, covering 1 settlement. Source changes inside the text are labelled at the exact paragraph where the next book begins.
Contents
1 sectionThe section headings the book prints inside this chapter. Each one jumps to where it begins.
The modern record here
1 settlementWhat the federal record holds for each settlement inside this township: wildfires and storm reports since the 1950s, mineral workings, and museum specimens collected nearby. These are counted within a few miles of each settlement, so neighbours share them and the columns are deliberately not added up. Every row links to the settlement's own page, where each figure is broken out.
| Settlement | Fires | Storm reports | Mines and quarries | Specimens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mendota | - | 60 | - | - |
Settlements in this township
1 placeEvery populated place the Geographic Names Information System records inside this township's Census boundary. It is named in the chapter.
The chapter
376 wordsReproduced complete and unedited from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877. The text is machine-read from scans, so expect recognition errors: misspelled names, dropped words, and stray characters. Nothing has been corrected, because correcting a proper name invents one. The headings below are the books' own; source changes are labelled in place.
Mendota Township
T. 36, R. 1, constitutes the town of Mendota, It lies in the reme northwest corner of the connty ; has no natural growth of timber, and was entirely ignored by the early settlers, The settlements around the head of Troy Grove timber had extended just over the line into T. 80, in 1840. O'Brian came in 1840, Taylor, in 1841; Ward, in 1842; Meath, in 1 Charles Foster settled on S. W. 4 S. 34, in 1848. Bela and William Bowen, from New York in 1849.
But the building of the Ilinois Central and Ohicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads inaugurated the germs of the city of Mendota - and soon filled the town with ยป busy population. It was known as early as the spring of 1853 where the junction of the two roads would be, and D. D. Giles erected a store, and others followed in quick succession. T. B. Blackstone, resident engineer on the railroad, laid off the original town of Mendota. The place was familiarly called the Junction, but as the railroad stations located on new territory that were nameless were given Indian names, this name was changed to Mendota, which is the Indian name for junction - meaning meeting, orcoming together. O.N. Adams the name, perhaps from his being the owner of the Mendota Furnace, near Galena. The Central road was completed to this place in the summer of 1853, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in November following. The latter road was built in sections ; first, the Military Tract and Galesburg, Galesburg to Mendota, and then the Aurora Extension, connecting with the Northwestern at Turner Junction.
The increase of population and building up of the town wns very mpid, so that in 1855, less than two years from the completion of the railroad, Town Trustees were chosen and a municipal government Organized. The village limits were the lines of S. 33. There have been several additions since. March 4, 1867, a city government was organized, and city Officers chosen on the 9th of April following. The growth of Mendota has been constant and rapid, and it is destined to be a city of no mean proportions, The enterprise and intelligence of the people is shown by their admirable schools and institutions of
Provenance
Text from History of LaSalle County, Illinois : Its Topography, Geology, Botany, Natural History, History of the Mound Builders, Indian Tribes, French Explorations, and a Sketch of the Pioneer Settlers of Each Town to 1840, with an Appendix, Giving the Present Status of the County, Its Population, Resources, Manufactures and Institutions, published 1877, in the public domain in the United States and digitised by the Internet Archive. The settlements listed against this township are matched by point-in-polygon test of each Geographic Names Information System coordinate against the Census Bureau's county subdivision boundary, not by name.